10:45 1. Allan Janssen New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Brunswick NJ, USA / Reformed Church of America

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1 Conference The Collegial Bishop Revisited: The Classis and Presbytery at Issue May 22 & At the Theologische Universiteit Kampen, The Netherlands PROGRAM Tuesday May 22 09:45 Registration, coffee/tea 10:30 Opening of the conference 10:45 1. Allan Janssen New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Brunswick NJ, USA / Reformed Church of America 11:05 Q & A with Allan Janssen 11:15 2. Leon van den Broeke Theologische Universiteit Kampen / Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam / Protestant Church in the Netherlands / Reformed Churches in the Netherlands Liberated Classis as Community? Between Ecclesial Hyperindividualism, Catholicity and Safetly 11:35 Q & A with Leon van den Broeke 11:45 3. Reflections by René de Reuver Secretary-general Protestant Church in the Netherlands 12:05 Q & A with René de Reuver 12:15 Lunch THE NETHERLANDS 13:15 4. Hilbrand van Eeken Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands Practice ground in dealing with differences 13:35 Q & A with Hilbrand van Eeken

2 13:45 5. Klaas-Willem de Jong Protestantse Theologische Universiteit Amsterdam- Groningen / Protestant Church in the Netherlands Half a bishop. A critical outline of the so-called classispredikant in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands 14:05 Q & A with Klaas-Willem de Jong NORTH-AMERICA 14:15 6. Kathy Smith Christian Reformed Church North-America Classis Renewal: Balancing Tensions and Encouraging Health 14:35 Q & A with Kathy Smith 14:45 Break, coffee/tea CZECH REPUBLIC 15:15 7. Adam Csukás Lecture Czech Republic Classis in the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren 15:35 Q & A with Adam Csukás SCOTLAND 15:45 8. John Chalmers Former Moderator Presbyterian Church Scotland Presbytery as the Engine of the Church? 16:05 Q & A with John Chalmers 16:15 Break, soft drinks, walk towards city centre 17:00 Guided city walk through Kampen 18:30 Dinner, a BBQ in the gardens of the Theologische Universiteit Kampen

3 Wednesday May 23 09:15 Morning prayer THE NETHERLANDS 09:30 9. Hans Schaeffer Theologische Universiteit Kampen / Reformed Churches in the Netherlands Liberated Classical Action as Embodying Christ. Practical and Systematic Reflections on the classis 09:50 Q & A with Hans Schaeffer NORTH-AMERICA 10: Joe Small Presbyterian Church in North-America How Polity Dies: Form without Substance in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 10:20 Q & A with Joe Small 10:30 Break, coffee/tea GLOBALIZATION, LOCALIZATION, REGIONALIZATION 11: Roel Kuiper Rector Theologische Universiteit Kampen and member of the Senate of the Dutch Parliament Embedding and disembedding: the classis and society 11:20 Q & A with Roel Kuiper GROUP DISCUSSIONS 11:30 Discussions in small groups on classis and presbytery on the three main questions 12:30 Lunch PLENARY SESSION 13:30 Plenary session, discussing the results of the small group conversations CONCLUSION AND FINAL REMARKS 14:15 Concluding remarks and closing of the conference 14:30 Meeting time, coffee/tea

4 The first conference proceedings DESCRIPTION Series: The Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America (HSRCA) In A Collegial Bishop? classis and presbytery are considered from a cross-cultural, indeed cross-national, perspective of the inheritors of Geneva and Edinburgh in their contemporary contexts in the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States. REVIEWS Alan Janssen Pastor, Community Church of Glen Rock, NJ Assistant Professor of Theology, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Brunwick, NJ Dutch theological A. A. van Ruler compares church order to the rafters of a church building. Church order sustains the space within which the church is met by God, where it engages in its plan with God *(liturgy), and where it is used by God in its mission in and to God s world. Presbyterian church order intends to be faithful to its root in God's Word, as it is shaped around the office of elder and governed through a series of councils of the church. Leon van den Broeke Pastor, Protestant Dutch Church in the Netherlands Assistant Professor of Religion, Law, and Society at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam If the classis assembly wants to survive the twenty-first century, then wonderful opportunities for the classis as the Protestant diocese need to be used. Episkope and koinonia are not competitors. When there is episcope instead of bureaucracy, koinonia will flourish. When there is koinonia there will be episcope. Joseph Small Director of the Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (USA) Geneva s Venerable Company of Pastors recorded its roster and the proceedings of its meetings in The Register of the Company of Pastors. These sixteenth-century records reveal a gathering of pastors who placed scripture and worship, theology and prayer, at the center of the church s life and the heart of pastoral vocation. In an age of ecclesial uncertainty and pastoral confusion, the pattern is suggestive contemporary presbyteries could do worse than to think through Calvin s originating vision for councils that were able to hear God s word as they shaped the ministry and mission of congregations and of the wider church.

5 Robert Vosloo Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa Within the context of South Africa and its history of apartheid, the story of the unification of the presbyteries of Stellenbosch (within the context of the struggle for church reunification within the Dutch Reformed Church family) is a testimony to the hopeful role the presbytery structure can play by offering a space conducive to dialogue and the creation of more adequate church structures. Craig Van Gelder Professor of Congregational Mission, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN Polity need to support the ministry of the church, which in turn flows out of the very nature of the church. A church order needs to start by identifying what this ministry is and then proceed to consider the necessary shared structures and organizational practices which support this ministry. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae This is a book which should be studied by all candidates for the ministry of churches with a presbyterian polity and elders, and other members should be encouraged to read it too.